Stocks rally for the second straight week buoyed by mainly budgetary expectations and first quarter earnings reports.
Out of usual five trading sessions, four sessions gained sharply while one session saw modest fall.
During the week ended Thursday, the benchmark Dhaka Stock Exchange General Index (DGEN) ended at 3982, gaining about 240 points or 6.40%.
The new benchmark index DSEX rose 214.5 points or 6% to about 3774. The DS30 comprising blue chip companies were up about 61 points or 4.59% to 1383.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Category Index, CSCX, ended 437 points or 6.23% higher to 7444.5 points.
The two-week long positive movement in stock prices has attracted some investors who preferred to stay sidelines, pushing to cross daily turnover Tk4bn-mark for the first time in 14-week.
The DSE average daily turnover rose 119% to Tk3.57bn against previous week's average of Tk1.63bn.
"The market sentiment took a further boost and the bourse made a stronger advancement, as confidence restored over recent political developments," said IDLC Investments.
"The budgetary expectations and earnings outlook continue to drive the market. Recent rally seemed to kick start a rise in fresh investments, as previously inactive investors seemed to come out from hibernation," said the merchant bank.
"High turnover is indicating that both institutional and individual investors are taking long positions in this deeply discounted market,” said Lanka Bangla Securities, a stock broker.
"Investors are probably speculating significant incentives for capital market in the upcoming national budget for fiscal year 2013-14 as this is an election year," the stock broker said.
Gainers took a strong lead over the losers as out of 289 issues traded during the week at DSE, 242 advanced, 43 declined and four remained unchanged.
All the major sectors performed well in the past week. Among the major sectors, non-banking financial institutions was the biggest gainer with a rise of 12.91%, followed by telecommunications 9.20%, fuel and power 9.16%, pharmaceuticals 4.45% and banks 1.73%.
The market capitalisation of the DSE went up significantly by 5.09% as it was Tk2.2tn at the opening day of the week while it closed at Tk2.3tn.
Orion Pharma was the week's most traded stocks with shares worth Tk977m changing hands followed by United Airways, Summit Purbanchol Power, Generation Next Fashion, Beximco, BSCL, Square Pharma, Olympic, KPCL and RN Spinning.
Prime Bank AMCL First Mutual Fund was the week's top gainer posting a rise of 40.38% followed by Purabi General Insurance, Northern General Insurance and Pragati Insurance.
The week's worst losers included ACI Ltd, Renata, Shahjalal Islami Bank, Kohinoor Chemical, GQ Ball Pen and Square Textile.
